The 5 Best Books I Read in 2024

And many more I loved and look forward to reading by my friends!

Today as the news from Selma and Saigon

poisons the air like fallout,

I come again to see

the serene, great picture that I love.

Here space and time exist in light

the eye like the eye of faith believes.

The seen, the known

dissolve in iridescence, become

illusive flesh of light

that was not, was, forever is…

- excerpt from “Monet’s Waterlilies” by Robert Hayden

Happy new year! After a few months of intense reading and writing (more on that below), I’m excited to do a round-up of some books that have stayed on my mind throughout the year. I’ve chosen five classic books that I loved reading in 2024, and I’m shouting out a handful of books that my friends have published last year and the year before.

I love classic books for the same reason that they have had so much staying power: because they deal with timeless questions. This year, for my five favorite books of the year, I’ve chosen five classics that I wish more people read, some of which are mostly just studied in the academy but deserve a wider audience. Many of them reckon with the same questions, particularly in a 20th century American context: In a society filled with hatred and violence, where can beauty and goodness be found? Are there things that transcend differences between people, and if so, what are they? Without further ado, here they are:

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

I reread this book as part of a group this fall after not having read it since high school. It was as immediate and engrossing as when I first read it, and seeing a production of Antigone soon afterward made me want to read the middle play in the Theban cycle, Oedipus at Colonus. While Freud is the main thinker we link to Oedipus Rex, the play has been a clear influence on so many writers that came after Sophocles, and that alone is reason enough to read it. For example, I wouldn’t be surprised if Camus’s ideas of absurdity were partly inspired by Oedipus’s attempt to shake off the prophecy. I’m glad that I revisited such a foundational text this past year.

No-No Boy by John Okada

I read No-No Boy earlier this year as part of the #Reading50States challenge, and it remains one of the best ruminations on hatred, love, Asian American identity, and the push and pull of assimilation and separatism that I’ve read in a long time. Okada didn’t live to see just how influential his book would become; it went out of print shortly after it was published. The fact that we have No-No Boy today is in large part thanks to college students who happened upon an out-of-print copy as they dug through the shelves of used bookstores in San Francisco in search of Asian American writers of the past. I’m grateful for this accidental find and for the role that bookstores play in preserving literary gems like this one.

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko

Wow. This is a book that will get its own post because I read it for the New Mexico part of the #Reading50States challenge and because there’s just so much to say about it. I was intrigued as soon as I heard one of my friends said it was his favorite book. I finished it at the very close of the year, and it is stunning. Stylistically, this book is kind of like if Woolf, Okada, and Steinbeck collaborated to write a novel together. On the surface, it’s the story of a young man named Tayo who has returned from combat in WWII to heal and regain his sense of self at the Laguna Pueblo reservation where he grew up. But it’s about so much more than that, too. Much of it is about Tayo’s reflections about violence and alienation, the theft of Native land, and the many ways that war and racism has institutionally and psychologically damaged his community. It’s as personal as it is communal — about belonging, family, and finding a way to go on after tragedy. All of this is done through a careful balance of subtlety and directness. Craft, not plot, is Silko’s main concern, and that’s part of what makes this book so good.

Collected Poems by Robert Hayden

This book was largely the reason for my brief hiatus from the blog and the intense reading and writing that I did the past few months. I did a deep dive on Robert Hayden’s amazing oeuvre, which will get its own post as the Michigan selection for my #Reading50States challenge. I wrote several poems inspired by Hayden’s earnest, philosophical poems about beauty, suffering, and American history. Most people only read the one poem of his that they’re assigned in school, “Those Winter Sundays,” and while that is a great poem, I assure you that there’s even better stuff in his Collected Poems. I want to shout from the rooftops: he’s one of our country’s greatest poets!

A Woman Without a Country by Eavan Boland

This was the first book I read in 2024, and it turns out it was one of the best of the year! There’s so much to learn from her poetry (even just her line breaks), and I’m looking forward to reading more of her work in the future. This book is already a contemporary classic of poetry,

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These past couple years, it has been so nice to see my friends have their work released into the world! I’m impressed by the variety of genres and styles in which they all write, and it makes me happy to see their words in local bookstores.

See Us Bloom by Kyunghee Kim, illustrated by Emily Paik - This picture book story, told in verse, of a kid moving to a new town and learning to adapt to a new school was a delight to read, and I really liked its colorful illustrations. Check out Kyunghee’s Substack, as well!

Fossil & Wing by Jason Barry - I always feel inspired after reading Jason’s poetry to revisit classic poets and to write more in general. I’m impressed with how much he’s able to say in just a few lines. These poems remind me of Auden and Hayden in many ways. This debut collection packs a punch.

Relative Strangers by A. H. Kim - This retelling of Sense and Sensibility that takes place at a cancer retreat center in northern California maintains an impressive balance of lightheartedness and gravity. The mysteries and twists and turns of the story were so engrossing! I really enjoyed reading it this past spring. Check out A.H. Kim’s Substack as well!

The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton - The best way I can describe this book is that it’s sapphic Scooby-Doo in space, and that makes it such a joy to read! I’m so happy for Emily for writing this debut sci-fi novel!

The Volcano Daughters by Gina María Balibrera - This novel is another debut about two sisters who survive a massacre in their hometown of Izalco, El Salvador and flee to France and the U.S. Their slain friends become ghosts that wander the Earth and alter the living world. As the girls build new lives abroad, Gina beautifully describes the ways they experiment with art and love. This was a pageturner!

McSweeney’s Issue 75 ed. by Dave Eggers, James Yeh, & Eli Horowitz - I’m looking forward to reading this short story anthology, which is a beautiful accordion folder of separately bound short stories with different illustrated covers, all written by authors who have never been published before. My friend Sam Krowchenko is one of the writers, and I am so excited to read his work!

Thanks for reading, and until next time!

Shannon